| The management of death is no longer confined to the medical world, but now is part of the world of politics with deep divisions over the issue of physician-assisted death. Nurses have the opportunity in this issue to contribute opinions regarding what they consider to be in the best interest of patients, their profession and society.;The findings of this study suggested that more nurses in Washington would be in favor of legalizing physician-assisted death than would not. A component in the nurse's attitude toward legalization of physician-assisted death was religion. Factors that appeared to affect the willingness of the nurse to support the patient during the dying process were the length of the relationship between the nurse and the patient, whether the patient was suffering, and whether the lethal injection was given by the nurse or the physician. In addition, this study found that nurses felt that pain was not being controlled as well as it could be in terminally ill patients.;The purpose of this study was to determine attitudes of registered nurses licensed in the state of Washington concerning the issue of physician-assisted death requested by competent, terminally ill adults. A computer generated random sample of 750 nurses was provided by the Washington State Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission, and each of those nurses was mailed a questionnaire. A 54% return rate was achieved, and the study was based on the responses of those registered nurses returning completed questionnaires. |
